Mach3 Plugin Tutorial Document and Prototype File Set

[jemmyell]

Hi Jeff,

The BlankPlugin is the original SDK sample.  It has not been maintained and is missing some of the latest additions most notably the notification callback / intrinsic.  I can help answer questions about this if you wish, but my prototype file set is what I use to create new projects.  This has all the functionality of the BlankPlugin and uses my debugging libraries.  The CustomPlugin project will be my example for all currently planned tutorials.  My next effort will be to fill in missing documentation sections and then explore the notification callback.  Also it appears VS 2005 support will be possible thanks to the great contribution of Lee Fairfield.

-James Leonard

[Jeff_Birt]

Thanks for the explanation James. I also noticed that the SDK was missing a lot of things in MachIncludes (I did get hold of the latest though). I did like how you integrated the SysInternals debugging window. The ability to use VS2005 would be great as it's what I use for everything else. Your tutorial came at a good time as I was wanting to create a plug-in for Measurement Computing (MCC) I/O cards as I have several of them at work. The other advantage is that their 'Universal Library' should allow one plug-in to work with all the boards they make.

[poppabear]

Hey James,

in this statement: "Also it appears VS 2005 support will be possible thanks to the great contribution of Lee Fairfield", who is this and where do I get the work around so 2005 will work with plugins??  It is much easier to get Books and trainin in 2005 than to find any resources on 2003.

Again thank you for what you have done, as I told you early on, many, many here are hungry to learn this, but need a teacher. Looking forward to you next tuturials and your explaination of stuff for us C++ neophyte laymans.......hehehe.

Scott

[jemmyell]

Hi Scott,

See the plugin annoucement thread in the Yahoo group where Lee Davis (I think Fairfield must be his location) documents a project setting for MBCS.  He has also posted a VS 2005 project in the 'Files' section there which I have not gone thriough yet since I have not installed VS 2005 yet.  I will try to do that later today.

-James

Hey James,

in this statement: "Also it appears VS 2005 support will be possible thanks to the great contribution of Lee Fairfield", who is this and where do I get the work around so 2005 will work with plugins?? It is much easier to get Books and trainin in 2005 than to find any resources on 2003.

Again thank you for what you have done, as I told you early on, many, many here are hungry to learn this, but need a teacher. Looking forward to you next tuturials and your explaination of stuff for us C++ neophyte laymans.......hehehe.

Scott

[jemmyell]

Thanks again to Lee Davis.  He did the entire tutorial and has given me very good feedback.  Part of that was noting that I never got the header files for the DRO, BUTTON and LED support into my PluginProto file set.  So, here is a PluginProto_v01b.zip that contains Mach3Button.h, Mach3DRO.h and Mach3Led.h.  It is available in the first post on page 1.

-James

[Leed3]

Hi guys,

Yes, Fairfield is where I used to live. I should have thought of a better EMail Id. I posted the first half of the tutorial on the Yahoo site. Anyone is welcome to copy it over here if that is more convenient. I will be looking at VS2008 soon. I think it should handle it fine.

LeeFairfield AKA Leed3

[jemmyell]

Visual C++ 2003 is still available!  This product is just the VC++ 2003 .NET Learning Edition for $79.95 , but that is what you need for plugin work.  No academic eligibility is needed for this product.  They are also selling just the compiler for $49.95.

http://www.academicsuperstore.com/market/marketdisp.html?PartNo=632691

-James

[poppabear]

so...........when does the next Plugin tutorial in the series come out?   

scott

[jemmyell]

so...........when does the next Plugin tutorial in the series come out?

scott

Hi Scott,

I will definitely work on it during the Christmas break, but maybe sooner.  I am just buried with getting some beta (and alpha) software out for test and I had two nice contracts come in.  I need to finish those ASAP so I can get paid by the end of the year...

-James

[jp]

Dear James ( and Dear All ),

I have a question that stay always in my mind => where have you find the description of the C++ functions ( and the general SDK structure ) from scratch ?

Please excuse my question ( it can be stupid for confirmed C++ developer ).


Best regards,

Jean - Pierre